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Reynard sat back, smiling. “Ahh, so your training. The swordsmanship. You are the son of a clan chief with much to prove.”

“Of sorts,” he said. The Englishman clearly did not realize how accurate his words truly were. Again, he glanced at Maisie. She seemed to sense his gaze and looked back at him just then. Reluctant to turn away, he did not. Reynard noticed.

“It seems her admiration is matched.” Reynard tossed up his hands. “Defeated by a chief’s son. I will no longer press my suit in regards to the fair Maisie.”

Kieran turned from her, smiling. “Do not give up on my account. As I said, I’ve much to accomplish and courting a woman is not in my near future.”

“Not even one as comely—and capable, as you say—as she?”

“Nay,” Kieran insisted. But he did raise his tankard into their air. “Though I will toast to a new friend, even one as English as you.”

Reynard laughed good-naturedly. “As often as I travel this far north, I’d not turn away an ally such as you. Am glad for it, in fact.”

“As am I,” Kieran said truthfully. He would need all the allies he could gather, not knowing which were truly his friends or foes for the first time in his life.

5

Chapter

The hall was nearly empty.

But for two of her regular customers, and him, all had either left or gone to bed. The kitchens were cleaned, her staff also abed. And with all completed for the eve, there was no way to avoid him.

Instinctively, Maisie knew she should avoid him. Whether it was simply his visage, or the way he carried himself, or his defense of her, she did not know. But one thing was clear to her.

This man was dangerous, in a very different way than MacBrannigan.

He was the kind of man to make Maisie question the vow she made to herself the day she buried her husband. That she would never, ever allow herself to be controlled by another man again. First, her father. Then, her husband.

Never.

Again.

“More ale?” she asked, approaching him for the first time since they’d come back inside.

“Nay,” he said. Indeed, Kieran of Duncraig’s tankard was empty.

“You’ve the key to your room, do you not?”

“I do.”

She let the next question linger, unasked.

“I will retire when you do, my lady.”

“I am no lady,” she said. “But to my staff.”

“You may not be nobly born, but you are indeed a lady.” He smiled cheekily. “My lady.”

Maisie could not help but return the smile. “Tell me, why do you wait for me to retire?”

Again, she had not meant for a double meaning, but that too hung between them.

“Two men remain in your hall. I would ensure your safety before I can seek my bed.”

Of all the answers he could have given, that was the least expected. “Last eve, you were not here to see to my safety. Nor will you be on the morrow.”

“But I am here now.”